Good Work Plan: Proposals to better support families
TUC response to BEIS consultation
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Introduction
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is the voice of Britain at work. We represent more than
5.5 million working people in 48 unions across the economy. We campaign for more and
better jobs and a better working life for everyone, and we support trade unions to grow
and thrive.
Trade unions negotiate enhanced workplace policies that support parents to manage their
work and childcare responsibilities1. The TUC estimates that unions organise around
130,000 union representatives. Union reps have a unique workplace insight and experience
of the common issues that working parents face. Unions campaign for improvements to
the rights of working parents, based on what our 5.5 million members tell us.
The TUC recognises that families come in all shapes and sizes. We adopt the broadest and
most inclusive concept of parenthood. Where we make specific reference to increasing
paternal involvement, this is because we believe that is where the change needs to be
directed to better achieve the policy goals on gender inequality.
The TUC believes that meaningful reform is needed to address systemic problems in the
labour market that have shackled the potential and aspirations of working mothers and
prevented fathers from becoming more actively involved in caring for their children.
We welcome the opportunity to contribute to this consultation on reforming the parental
rights system and agree that reform is necessary. However, we believe that half measures
or repackaging of existing rights where a gain for one parent comes at a cost to the other
will not begin to address the barriers that working parents face. We recommend that the
current system of maternity, paternity and shared parental leave is replaced by a simpler,
more equal system that would provide stronger rights for each parent and better achieve
the objectives of a progressive parental leave system.
Reform of the parental leave system on its own is not sufficient to address the entrenched
disadvantage faced by working parents and in particular mothers. It must be part of a
package of wider reforms, encompassing subsidised, affordable childcare, a day one right
to flexible working and meaningful steps to promote equal pay and reduce the gender pay
gap.
The TUC’s submission will focus on:
i) The objectives that a reformed parental rights system should achieve,
ii) The key principles that should underpin a reformed parental rights system
iii) A proposed model of parental rights, and
iv) Recommendations for next steps
1 Annex A, https://www.tuc.org.uk/sites/default/files/Congress_2016_TUC%20Equality%20Audit_Digital.pdf
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Key summary
The TUC believes that any new model should meet the following objectives:
• Enable families to share caring responsibilities more equally so that children can spend
quality time with both parents in their early years
• Reduce pregnancy and maternity discrimination, by rebalancing the responsibility for
childcare more equally between mothers and fathers/partners
• Cut the gender pay gap, by removing the “motherhood penalty”
• Enable dads and partners to spend significant time as primary carers for their children
in the early years
• Make parental rights accessible to all workers, regardless of employment status, and
address difficulties faced by self-employed parents
• Unleash the wasted potential in the labour market, boost workplace productivity and
help employers recruit and retain staff
The TUC believes the following principles must underpin any reformed system:
• Existing maternity rights and protections must not be diminished in any way
• Maternity rights must be enhanced
• There must be a significant increase in paternity leave and pay entitlements
• Fathers/parents acting equally as primary care givers in the early years (not using leave
concurrently with mothers) is more likely to help meet the objectives above, including
tackling the gender pay gap
• Statutory parental pay needs to be significantly increased to make it feasible for parents
to access their parental leave entitlements and care for their young children
• Parental leave reform must be part of a package of wider reforms including:
• Subsidised, affordable childcare from as soon as maternity and paternity paid leave
finishes
• Strengthening flexible working rights.
• Meaningful steps to promote equal pay and narrow the gender pay gap
• Parental rights should be accessible to all, regardless of employment status
• Self-employed workers should not be excluded from the scope of the consultation and
steps should be taken to implement new parental rights for them
• Qualifying periods for parental rights should be scrapped and they should be available
from day 1 of employment.
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Overview of TUC’s proposal parental leave model
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Objectives
Enable families to share caring responsibilities more equally
More women are in paid employment than ever before, but caring responsibilities remain
unequally divided between mums and dads, impacting women’s equal access to
employment and increasing the discrimination and marginalisation women face in the
workplace.
The unequal division of caring responsibilities has a direct negative impact on women’s
ability to maintain and progress in employment. There is a large body of international
evidence showing that women with children suffer large pay penalties and that taking time
out of the labour force or returning to work part-time due to caring commitments may be
damaging for career progression2:
• The lack of affordable childcare and flexible work opportunities forces mums into part-
time, work exacerbating the gender pay gap- 87% of men in paid work are full-time
workers, whereas only 59% of women are in paid full-time work3. At least 29,000
women in the UK working on a part-time basis are underemployed, meaning that they
would prefer to work more hours if flexible working opportunities were made more
widely available4
• Two thirds of female professionals returning to the workforce after a career break such
as maternity leave are forced into lower-skilled or lower-paid roles, experiencing an
immediate earnings reduction of up to a third5
• Gendered patterns of occupational segregation are reinforced after childbirth, 5 years
after a child’s birth, only 13% of mums’ earnings have increased compared to 26% of
dads6
Studies show that where paid paternity leave lengths are greater, the motherhood penalty
is smaller7. Enabling families to share caring responsibilities more equally improves
women’s employment outcomes and has positive benefits for children’s health and
development8:
• An analysis of data on more than 4,000 women from an English national maternity
survey found that mums whose partners had taken no paternity leave were more likely
to report feeling ill or unwell at three months, and mothers with more than one child
2 GEO (2019) Employment pathways and occupational change after childbirth; Anderson, S (2018) Journal
of Marriage and Family 80: 1125-1143 3 ONS (Oct 2019) A05 NSA: Employment, unemployment and economic inactivity by age group (not
seasonally adjusted) (http://bit.ly/2JqVurZ 4 PWC (2016) Women Returners 5 PWC (2016) Women Returners 6 Costa a Dias, M; Joyce, R; Pardoi, F (2018) Wage progression and the gender wage gap: the causal impact
of hours of work 7 Budig, M; Misra, J; & Boeckman, I (2016) Work-Family Policy Trade-Offs for Mothers? 8 Huerta, M et al (2017) Eur Journal Society Security
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whose partners took no leave also reported much higher rates of post-natal
depression9.
• Mothers with pre-school children are twice as likely to return to employment at nine
months and at three years’ post-childbirth if the father is involved by sharing or doing
the most childcare at these times10. This is the case even when other factors affecting a
mother’s decision to return to paid work are taken into account – such as the father’s
employment status, the mother’s occupational class and the mother’s gender role
attitudes towards work and care.
Reforming parental leave policies is a way that the government can give working parents
legal rights and financial support to share caring responsibilities more equally, giving every
child the opportunity to spend time bonding with and being cared for by both parents and
to ensure women do not lose out due to pregnancy and birth.
Enable dads and partners to spend significant time as primary carers for their children in
the early years
Societal attitudes have shifted considerably since our parental leave systems were designed.
The 2017 Modern Families Index11 published by the charity Working Families and Bright
Horizons, shows fathers wanting to take a much more active part in childcare and of
workplaces failing to adapt and support their aspirations. Research by ACAS found dads
pay a ‘parenthood penalty’, not in forgoing their careers and salary but in time spent with
their children and family12.
Our current model of parental leave entrenches the concept that dads/partners are
secondary care givers - there is no period of mandatory leave for dads/partners and
statutory paternity pay and leave is significantly less than for mums meaning many dads are
unable to take it, despite wanting to.
Affordability is a key barrier preventing parents from accessing their paternity and shared
parental leave rights. The failure of the current Shared Parental Leave policy, which has seen
a take-up of 1% of those eligible, is not because of a lack of desire on the part of parents
but because the scheme did not create any new rights for the non-birth parent and is so
low-paid (£145.18 per week) that it is unaffordable for most parents and their families13.
Among employed men, fathers’ use of parental leave is also strongly influenced by
organizational culture, including their company’s commitment to caring values, level of
‘father friendliness’ and support for equal opportunities for women; and also the fathers’
perceptions of support from top managers, and of work group norms that reward task
9 NHS (2017) National Maternity Survey 10 Norman, H (2019) Does Paternal Involvement in Childcare Influence Mothers’ Employment Trajectories
during the Early Stages of Parenthood in the UK? 11 Modern Families Index 2017, https://workingfamilies.org.uk/publications/2017-modernfamilies-index-
summary-report 12 ACAS (2017) Flexible working for parents returning to work: maintaining career development 13 TUC (2019) TUC calls for overhaul of Shared Parental Leave system
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performance vs. long hours at work14. A newly reformed parental leave system led by BEIS
can drive the systemic, workplace cultural changes need to rebalance the status quo of
caring responsibilities.
The evidence strongly shows that uptake of parental leave among dads is shown to be
much higher when the leave is paid at a rate families can afford to live on, such as 90% of
AWE and is dads’ individual and non-transferable right – that is, it cannot be transferred to
the baby’s mother, and is lost to the family if not used by the father15. The current rate of
statutory paternity pay is inadequate for families to live on - paid at a rate of less than half
of what someone on the National Minimum Wage would earn working a 35-hour week.
Studies show that the paternal quota works, as measured by how many men take leave.
Uptake among dads increased in several EU countries after the introduction of a dedicated
well-paid leave entitlement for fathers (so called ‘daddy quotas’)16:
• In Iceland, dads averaged 39 days of leave in 2001. After the fathers’ quota was
introduced on a ‘use it or lose it’ basis, this rose to 103 days by 2012
• In Sweden and Iceland, which offer a non-transferable fathers’ quota, men’s uptake is
much higher (90%) than in Denmark (24%) and Slovenia (6%), which don’t.
• In Sweden parents are given 480 days leave, 420 days of which are paid at 80% of
average weekly earnings (AWE).
If a portion of leave isn’t specifically designated for dads and remunerated at a rate they
and their families can afford to live on, few men will take it, placing the responsibility for
caregiving overwhelmingly on women and thereby reinforcing inequalities at home and at
work.
Reduce pregnancy and maternity discrimination and tackle the gender pay gap
Our parental leave and pay policies should be designed to prevent employers from
discriminating against women or treating them unfairly because they have been absent, or
are likely to be absent, from work. But the evidence tells us they are failing to do so.
Research by the EHRC found strong evidence of employers’ discriminatory attitudes
towards pregnant women, new mums and women of child-bearing age17:
• 41% of employers agreed pregnancy puts an ‘unnecessary burden’ on the workplace
• Almost half (46%) of employers agree it is reasonable to ask women if they have young
children during the recruitment process
14 Haas et al (2002) The impact of organizational culture on men’s use of parental leave in
Sweden. Community, Work & Family, 5(3), pp.319-342 15 Schulze, Erika and Maja Gergoric. 2015. Maternity, paternity and parental leave: Data related to duration
and compensation rates in the European Union. Brussels: European Parliament. 16 OECD (2016) Parental Leave: Where are the fathers?, policy brief; Van Belle, J., Paternity and Parental
Leave Policies across the European Union, RAND Corporation, Santa Monica and Cambridge, 2016. 17 EHRC (2018) Pregnancy and Maternity Discrimination Research Findings
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• A third of employers believe that women who become pregnant and new mothers in
work are ‘generally less interested in career progression’ when compared to other
employees in their company
These discriminatory attitudes have a direct impact on women’s working lives.
• 54,000 women a year are forced out of their job due to pregnancy and maternity
discrimination18
• Pregnant women are twice as likely to be made redundant as non-pregnant
colleagues19
• Over three quarters of women (77%) reported experiencing discrimination or
disadvantage as a result of pregnancy, maternity leave, and/or on return from maternity
leave – equivalent to 390,000 mothers a year20
Protecting women and families from discrimination not only protects women’s economic
participation but the health and wellbeing of their child. The evidences overwhelmingly
shows that: “the most important condition for children's well-being is families‘ economic
stability. Parental leave [guarantees] that people can have children and return to their jobs
without adverse consequences, thus ensuring children's well-being.”21
A reformed parental leave system that enshrines the individual, non-transferable rights of
both parents, rebalancing childcare responsibilities between mums and dads and protecting
parents from discrimination would ensure BEIS better meets its objective of reducing
pregnancy and maternity discrimination and achieving gender equality in the workplace
Parity for workers and employees, and address the difficulties faced by self-employed
parents
Employment status should not be a barrier to parents accessing their parental rights but
increased casualisation of the workforce, lack of day one paternity rights and the challenges
faced by the genuinely self-employed pose particular problems for new mums and dads.
Research by the TUC in 2018, found that 1 in 4 new dads did not qualify for two weeks’
statutory paternity pay because they are either ineligible for it or are unable to afford to
take it. Around 41,000 dads didn’t get paternity leave in 2018 because they hadn’t been
working for their employer for long enough. The law requires employees to have at least six
months’ service with their current employer by the 15th week before the baby is due to
qualify for paternity pay.
Around 100,000 dads weren’t entitled to statutory paternity pay because they were self-
employed. Unlike self-employed mums who may be eligible for maternity allowance, dads
who work for themselves don’t get a similar paternity allowance. Many of these dads may
18 EHRC (2018) Pregnancy and Maternity Discrimination Research Findings 19 Harris, S (2019) Maternity Action: Pregnant women and new mums twice as likely to be redundant 20 EHRC (2018) Pregnancy and Maternity Discrimination Research Findings 21 Haas, L; Hwang, P (1999:49) in Moss, P. & Deven, F. Parental Leave: progress or pitfall? NIDI, report
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be ‘bogus self-employed’ – a tactic used by some employers to deny staff basic rights at
work.
The rise of precarious, low-paid work, often without any guaranteed hours and with few
employment securities (such as sickness or maternity benefits) has created additional
pressures for workers. Pregnant women and new mums are facing a weakening of their
maternity rights in the workplace. Women have reported that they stopped receiving shifts
when they told their employer they were pregnant or were deliberately asked to carry out
tasks that were unsafe, consequently forcing them to leave work or risk their health and
that of their unborn baby. This is concerning as when “maternity leave is: paid, provided in a
job secure context and with a duration of at least 10 weeks”22 there are positive health
gains for children.
Dads in zero-hours or short-term contracts have told us they are also experiencing
difficulties accessing their parental rights as a result of casualisation. Many dads in
precarious report that they have been unable to attend ante-natal appointments with their
partner or are worried that if asking for family friendly shift patterns or more notice for shift
cancellations, they would be offered fewer shifts and less work in the future or would not
get any work at all23.
Develop a system which unleashes the wasted potential in the labour market, boosts
productivity and helps employers recruit and retain staff
Women’s progression in the workplace continues to be held back by the tensions between
current ways of organising work and caring responsibilities. Mums are more likely to
withdraw from full-time employment compared to dads after having children and enter
part-time work or leave the workforce altogether24. Whilst this is often positioned as an
active choice, in truth it is often a necessity driven by the lack of quality flexible jobs and
lack of affordable, flexible childcare. This exacerbates existing gender inequalities and pay
disparities. Pay and progression opportunities are worse for part-time workers than for
those in full-time work. The gender pay gap for part-time work compared to full-time
equivalents is 34.8% - much higher than the national gender pay gap average of 17.9%25.
Reforms to maternity, paternity and parental leave should be part of a package of wider
reforms that includes a day one right to flexible work and subsidised, affordable childcare
system. OECD evidence suggests that affordable quality childcare is the main driver in
achieving better female labour market participation outcomes; and that parental leave
policies and flexible work practices can help support this26. There are also a number of
benefits to employers when adopting family-friendly working policies and practices –
22 O’Brien, M. & Wall, K. (2017) Comparative Perspectives on Work-life Balance and Gender Equality.
Fathers on leave alone, Springer Open, 2017.
23 TUC (2017) Better jobs for mums and dads
24 GEO (2019) Employment pathways and occupational change after childbirth
25 TUC (2019) Unpublished ASHE data analysis, available upon request.
26 Thévenon, O. (2013), "Drivers of Female Labour Force Participation in the OECD", OECD Social,
Employment and Migration Working Papers, No. 145, OECD Publishing, Paris.
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increased loyalty, commitment, performance and productivity, as well as improved
recruitment and retention of valued staff, that bring financial benefits for employers in the
longer-term.27
27 GEO (2019) Employment pathways and occupational change after childbirth
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Key Recommendations
1. Commit to a non-regression clause relating to existing maternity rights and
protections
The government should commit to a non-regression clause principle to ensure reforms to
our parental leave system improve and strengthen existing maternity rights and
protections, not undermine them.
Pregnant women and new mums require strong maternity rights to ensure they do not feel
compelled to work when it is unsafe to do so and strong protection from discrimination as
a result of pregnancy or maternity leave. These rights and protections ensure women’s
equal access to employment and a secure income for their family.
We do not accept the government’s proposition that reforms can only take place by
redistributing existing leave entitlements. Any attempt by BEIS to weaken or undermine
women’s existing package of rights and protections could worsen the already significant
levels of discrimination they face in the workplace and exacerbate gender inequalities, and
should therefore be avoided.
2. Extend the compulsory element of maternity leave to 14 weeks
The government should extend the compulsory element of maternity leave from 2 to 14
weeks to ensure pregnant women and new mums have adequate time to prepare for and
recover from birth.
Mothers need sufficient time to fully prepare for and recover from birth. The International
Labour Organisation’s standard for a minimum period of maternity leave is 14 weeks and
recommend that it should be taken immediately before and after birth to protect the health
and wellbeing of both mother and baby.
Mums will only be able to take this period of leave if it is remunerated fairly. Therefore, the
TUC recommend it is paid at a rate of 90% of AWE, without a cap, to ensure families do not
incur a financial penalty.
This mandatory period of paid leave should be considered by BEIS as separate and distinct
to a parent’s right to leave in order to bond with and care for their baby.
We recognise that some mothers may wish to return to work before 12 weeks. Therefore,
we propose reforming the way KiT days operate, giving a mother the right to choose to
activate a KiT day which would enable her to keep in touch with work before the end of the
14 weeks if this was her choice.
3. Introduce a compulsory 6-week period of paid paternity leave
The TUC recommends a period of mandatory paternity leave for new dads so that they can
provide support to their partner and to help her recover from childbirth.
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Dads will only be able to take this period of leave if it is remunerated fairly. Therefore, the
TUC recommends it be paid at a rate of 90% of AWE, without a cap, to ensure families do
not incur a financial penalty and to meet the objective of increasing paternal involvement in
the early years.
This mandatory period of leave should be considered by BEIS as separate and distinct to a
parent’s right to leave. The purpose of this mandatory leave would be to provide support to
their partner and for the father/partner to bond with and care for their baby.
4. Introduce an optional period of ‘use it or lose it’ leave
The TUC proposes that the government align the period of optional paternity and maternity
leave/pay for mums and dad/partners. This optional, non-transferable period of paternity
and maternity leave for both parents would provide simpler and stronger rights for workers,
provide much needed clarity for employers and enable both parents to spend valuable time
bonding with and caring for their baby.
These will be individual entitlements and non-transferable to the other partner, given the
evidence that a ‘use it or lose it’ element is the best incentive to achieve the objective of
increasing paternal involvement in the early years and equalising caring responsibilities
between mums and dads.
5. Increase statutory levels of pay for the optional period of maternity and paternity
leave
The government should increase statutory maternity, paternity, adoption and shared
parental pay to at least Real Living Wage28 levels so that new parents aren’t forced to go
back to work before they or their baby are ready.
While the UK has a comparatively long maternity leave compared to the rest of the EU, only
a small proportion of this is paid at an adequate level29. Without adequate maternity pay,
women’s choices are limited and many cannot afford to take their leave
entitlements. Mums in the UK get one of the lowest amounts of decently-paid maternity
leave in Europe, most European countries offer three months or more30. This means many
new mums feel forced to return to work before they or their child are ready, risking their
health and that of their new-born.
Statutory maternity, paternity and adoption pay should be funded by the State and the
current level of reimbursement of 92% for all employers. Reimbursement for small
businesses who qualify for Small Employers Relief should be raised to ensure small
28 As set out by the Living Wage Foundation, the rate in November 2019 is £9.30 across the UK. £10.75 in
London: https://livingwage.org.uk/what-real-living-wage 29 TUC (2017) ‘UK in the relegation zone: Maternity Leave and Pay’ https://www.tuc.org.uk/news/uk-
relegation-zone-decently-paid-maternity-leave-europe-warns-tuc 30 “
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employers receive appropriate levels of payment in recognition of additional costs towards
associated costs of maternity, paternity and adoption leave, such as accrual of annual leave.
6. Parents can take leave concurrently and consecutively
The TUC recognises that to change cultural norms and positively impact on gender equality
, caring responsibilities will have to be rebalanced, with fathers taking on an equal share of
caring responsibilities. The most effective way of achieving this aim is to make sure that
fathers undertake a significant period of childcare on their own. A whole body of evidence
shows that fathers who undertake childcare on their own in the early years are more likely
to be involved in the future:
• Dads who take paternity leave tend to do more hands-on caring for their babies. One
UK study found that fathers who took formal leave were 25% more likely to change
nappies and 19% more likely to feed their 8-12 month old babies and to get up to them
at night. This was irrespective of their commitment to parenting before the child’s birth,
or the time mothers or other family members spent with the children.
Dr. Helen Norman’s analysis of over 10,500 two-parent, opposite-sex (mother-father)
households in Great Britain reveals that mothers with pre-school children are twice as likely
to return to employment nine months, and three years post-childbirth if their partner is
involved by sharing or doing the most childcare at these times. This is the case even when
other factors affecting a mother’s decision to return to paid work are taken into account,
such as the father’s employment status, the mother’s occupational class and the mother’s
gender role attitudes towards work and care.
However, we also recognise that there may be circumstances where families want and need
to decide on joint caring arrangements which best suit their circumstances. Therefore, the
TUC proposes that parents could use their leave concurrently for a maximum period of 6
months. This would enable families who choose to do so to spend time together and for
parents to jointly care for their children. This may be of particular benefit where parents or
children experience ill health.
Evidence from Sweden suggests introducing a ‘double month’ (a period of leave that can
be taken concurrently) has encouraged more fathers to take leave earlier and potentially to
take more leave than they otherwise would have31 If parents choose to take leave
consecutively, this would allow parents to care for their child up to, or close to, the time
that subsided childcare provision starts. This would better achieve the outcome of reducing
the gender pay gap and negative impact that caring responsibilities have on women’s
career development and earnings.
7. Parity between workers and employees
All working parents should have access to the same rights, from day one in their jobs,
regardless of their employment status. All workers, including zero-hours contracts workers,
31 ISF (2018) Dubbeldagar – vissa pappors väg in i föräldrapenningen?
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agency workers and those in casual work, should benefit from the same decent floor of
rights currently enjoyed by employees. This includes all family friendly rights, which are by
and large, only available to “employees”. This would give greater security to workers who
already face a high degree of job precariousness and income instability and ensure the
parental leave system reflects the changing nature of the labour market.
8. Scrap qualifying periods
All parental rights should be a day one right so that no parent is prevented from accessing
their parental rights and protections.
9. New rights for self-employed workers
A paternity allowance for dads who are not eligible for statutory paternity pay, similar to the
maternity allowance some self-employed mothers can claim. The rate of pay should be
harmonised in line with the newly improved rates of statutory maternity, paternity and
adoption leave pay we suggest in recommendation 5.
10. Implement parental leave reforms alongside a wider package of family rights reform
Implementing a progressive, parental rights system is good for families, employers and the
economy. Reforms to parental leave policies should go alongside:
• A day one right to flexible work: that would enable parents to balance caring
commitments with maintaining and progressing in employment
• Duty on employers to advertise all jobs flexibly: to ensure parents can access their day
one right to flexible work
• Reform Gender Pay Gap regulations: to include mandatory action plans, wider use of
Equal Pay Audits and sectoral collective bargaining
• Legislation that requires employers to publish maternity and paternity retention rates:
The period of monitoring should begin when parents announce a pregnancy for up to
two years
• Subsidised, affordable childcare from as soon as maternity and paternity paid leave
finishes: Lowering the age at which subsidised childcare begins to two years would
enable parents to continue working and mean mums don’t continue to have to make
that choice between having a family and a career.
• Enhanced levels of government funding for local authorities to provide nurseries and
childcare
• A greater role for employers in funding childcare. Either through direct subsidy to
employees or the provision of on-site childcare facilities.
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• Increase the childcare support provided by tax credits and Universal Credit. Including by
reversing cuts to the UC work allowance, scrapping the unfair ‘two child’ policy and
lifting the cap on benefit uprating.
Contact
Sian Elliott, TUC Women’s Equality Policy Officer, [email protected]